


The Space Mall Chronicles- featuring Keith and Lance.

by SimplyEssa



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: (im so smart), (keith angst), Aftermath of Torture, Angst, Blood and Injury, But I regret nothing, Emotional Hurt, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Established Relationship- Klance, Humor and some fluff, Hurt Lance, I am so sorry, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Insecure Keith (Voltron), Insecure Lance (Voltron), Keith (Voltron) Whump, Keith gets lost, Keith/Lotor is one sided, LANCE HAS LACNE HAHAHAH, Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, Lance gets worried, Lance/Lotor is one sided, Langst, M/M, One-Sided Attraction, Original Galra Characters - Freeform, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, PINING KEITH, Torture, but hes not bad at first, but it revolves around lance and keith so i only put them in it, hurt keith, im not sure how to tag this, im sorry, its mainly keith and lacne, kangst, klangst, nothing graphic, pining lance, really angsty, set /after/ they find shiro in s3, so like s4 lmao, the galra aren't the ones who took him ooo, the rest are i it (pidgehunkshiroalluracoran) but hardly, the rest are in it, this may seem fluffy but its not, yes lotor is in this im sorry, youll see - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-03
Updated: 2018-03-17
Packaged: 2018-12-09 09:23:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 17,862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11666262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SimplyEssa/pseuds/SimplyEssa
Summary: So, I suck at summaries, here's a quote." Keith had asked Lance that one night, along with the lines of 'If... If I were to be captured, would you... would you look for me? '. Lance, of course, had flipped his shit at that comment, pulling Keith into the deepest kiss there was, and telling him never to doubt his love for him again. He also said that he would always look for Keith, no matter what happened.Those words were what kept Keith sane when the hand clamped over his mouth and wrists, dragging him away from Lance. "Summary is a WIP.(Or; Lance and Keith go to the Space Mall and Keith gets lost. No shenanigans ensue. Lots of pain for our emo son.)





	1. The Space Mall

**Author's Note:**

> the ME that obsesses over hurt keith: let's write a new fic!  
> sane me: we've got 4 drafts, and four ongoing fics. no.  
> the ME that obsesses over hurt keith: come onnn! itll be fun!  
> sane me: fine  
> the ME that obsesses over hurt keith: ideas. go.  
> sane me: i dunno, maybe we could do one where keith gets lost in a space mall, and lance spends twenty minutes searching for him. shenanigans ensue.  
> the ME obsesses over hurt keith: NO! I NEED THE HURT!  
> sane me: there are literally 14 works that almost only involve hurt keith in our account. dont you think we're going overboard?  
> the ME that obsesses over hurt keith: NO SUCH THING. GIVE ME HURT KEITH. NOW. OR I WILL DELETE ONE OF THEM.  
> sane me: whatever. fine.  
> so here you have it; a lost keith in a space mall fic with hardly any fluff. thank the insane part of me.  
> (sorry for the shitty summary, and the parts in quotes are italics, i just couldn't figure out how to put that in the summary)

"I know, Keith, I know," Lance sighed, holding his head in frustration. "You don't know what a beanie is, because you lived in a desert for most of your life, blah blah blah. Well, when we get back to Earth, you're putting on one of my beanies, because you'd look hot as fuck. Okay?" Lance asked, digging through one of the shelves to find what Allura called a ' _gipolashfai_ '. He removed his head from the shelf when he didn't get an answer from his boyfriend. "What, Keith, did I hurt your sad emo- Keith?" Lance looked for his jacket, the one Keith claimed, among the crowd of aliens. It wasn't anywhere in sight; Neither was Keith. "Keith?" he called again, a little louder this time.

Great. He was already having a pretty shitty day (seeing as he had to show Keith  _Star Wars_ ,  _The Avengers_ , and a whole lot of other movies when they got back to Earth, and make him wear a beanie. Rough day), losing Keith was just the cherry on top.

Sighing, he turned off the holographic list, muttered something about 'stupid Altean advanced watches not having communications, cupped his hands around his mouth, walking around the mall and calling out names he'd called Keith before.

They were the only ones that spoke English there anyways. Even if he said some random word like ' _pineapple_ ', Keith would know it was him.

* * *

Keith and Lance had just started dating recently. Recently, as in four weeks ago. Did that affect how much they loved each other? No.

Keith had asked Lance that one night, along with the lines of ' _If... If I were to be captured, would you... would you look for me?_ '. Lance, of course, had flipped his shit at that comment, pulling Keith into the deepest kiss there was, and telling him never to doubt his love for him again. He also said that he would always look for Keith, no matter what happened.

Those words were what kept Keith sane when the hand clamped over his mouth and wrists, dragging him away from Lance.

He struggled against it's grip, sure, but it was like he was being held by the Hulk (yes, he had seen the Avengers, but he wasn't going to tell Lance that). When he tried biting, his mouth met electricity, promptly dazing him, giving the alien enough time to get him out of the store and into it's comrade's hands. During the brief second where the metal wasn't on his mouth, he yelled.

* * *

 "Lance!"

Lance perked his head up, turning to where the sound -no, Keith's voice- came from.

Keith's voice was soon followed with screaming.

"Keith?!" Lance yelled back, bolting for that direction. The screaming slowly faded out, giving Lance no sense of where Keith could be. Instead of panicking, he continued to run in the direction he heard Keith scream. "Keith, I'm coming!"  _Where ever you are..._

Instead of taking the escalator like a sane person (let's be honest, when he loses Keith he goes insane), he hopped the railing of the stairs, taking two stairs at a time. By the time he reached the second floor, he was panting for breath, and receiving weird looks from other aliens. He resisted the urge to flip them off.

After a few more seconds, he took off again, only to slam into a tall, orange alien with one tentacle for an arm, and another tentacle, only that one was metal and blue. It didn't have any clothes on, but it didn't really have anything to show except for skin. Maybe it was normal for their culture. Removing himself from the thing's back, he got a better look at the creature. It's skin, fat, whatever, dragged across the ground, leaving a slimy trail behind it. It had three, red glowing eyes, all which were narrowed in Lance's direction, without eyebrows, and man, that was creepy. It didn't seem to have a mouth or ears, but Lance wouldn't know. He'd never seen their race before. Lance looked back at the metal arm, noticing the bite marks. Was he attacked? Lance looked behind it, and there were four more of it's race. One was blue, another was purple, and the rest were orange, like the first one. Only the one in front of him had a metal arm, so maybe he was some kind of commander? The other two orange ones seemed to be holding something in the air, one at the front of the thing, the other at the end. It looked vaguely human shaped.

"Sorry," Lance muttered, stepping to the side.

"Why are you in rush?" The alien said with a static like voice, stepping in front of Lance.

Something wasn't right. Lance blinked, looking up at it's face. It was at least three feet taller than Lance was. In fact, it towered over most of the crowd. Maybe it had seen Keith...

"Paladin?" It asked again.

Lance gaped at the creature. How did it know? He was wearing his normal clothing, no armour of the sort. "Wha.. What?"

"Are not with Voltron?" It asked, getting in Lance's way when he tried moving again.

"I... I am? How did you know?" Lance asked, trying to look over the alien to the other orange aliens. The thing- no, person, alien- they were carrying had a very Keith-like form. Could it be...? When Lance took a step forward, so did the alien. Well, it slid closer. "Okay, dude, I get that you're asking me questions and stuff, but I really need to find my friend, so if you could, just, like, move, that would be great."

"No," It said.

Before Lance could react, it flung out it's metal tentacle, wrapped it around Lance's throat, motioning with his other tentacle for the others to leave, or something. Lance watched as the orange aliens turned sideways, revealing an unconscious Keith between them, blood trailing down his head. One had his feet, while the other held his shoulders. His arms and legs were cuffed.

"W-wait," Lance choked out, one hand going for the tentacle, the other slipping to his thigh. All five Paladins had learned to summon their bayard, if needed, without their armour on. It worked pretty well, especially in scenarios like this. Just as his bayard activated, pain erupted from his neck, spreading down his body. Lance bit his lip to keep him from screaming, instead focusing on trying to get to Keith. It didn't work, seeing as his vision continued to darken. His bayard slipped from his grasp, just as Lance's vision faded completely.

The last thing he heard before slipping into exhaustion was Keith yelling his name.

* * *

Lance opened his eyes, blinking a few times to get rid of the sleep in his eyes. He moved to rub at his eyes, only to find he couldn't. Lance lifted his head, trying to get a better look at his hands. He could get out the shape of it, but his eyes were still adjusting to the darkness. He tried moving them again, but they stayed in place. Lance groaned, dropping his head back onto the ground. He remembered everything, which meant he remembered not being able to help Keith. Keith.

Where was Keith?

Lance raised his head once more, forcing his body into a sitting position as he looked around the room. His eyes were mostly adjusted- he would be able to make out Keith's form, if he were even there. 

He looked around the small cell (he assumed it was a cell, at least), finding that there was a small barred window at the very top, at least eight feet in the air. It was the only source of light. In the corner of the room, at least ten feet in the air, was something that looked like a camera. It was a neon green, sticking out of the wall with a circular end. Lance snorted and stuck up a finger, hoping these aliens knew what it was.

Looking back at the window, he realized that if they worked together, and if these cuffs came off, they could reach the window. At least, if they shared a cell. Tugging once more, Lance frowned when his hands didn't budge. They seemed stuck to the floor. Lance looked into his lap, only to notice a small lump on top of his legs. Eyes adjusted, he could see that it was his jacket.

That meant Keith had been in here without these cuffs, which could mean they took Keith.

As if answering his mind, a clang sounded from outside of the cell, along with a grunt.

Lance turned to the noise, getting a heavy whiff of  _deja vu_ , watching as part of the wall slid open to reveal the two orange aliens from before, Keith being dragged by his arms between them, seemingly unconscious. His head was hung low, bangs covering his eyes. Blood dripped from his left arm, and from what Lance could see, his right arm was twisted the other way. Bruises littered the parts of his body Lance could see. He felt his breath hitch when he looked at Keith's chest; his shirt was ripped in the center, a burn mark taking it's place.

The aliens walked in, dropping Keith, not caring that his head hit the ground with a rather loud thud. They only made a low squeak that sounded like it was mocking Keith.

"Hey!" Lance snapped, causing the bigger of the two to turn. "Let's see you go through whatever the hell he did, and still be conscious!" He tugged at his wrist with the remaining strength he had, to no avail.

The bigger one turned around, making some type of ' _pssh_ ' sound. That wasn't what Lance, wanted to say, but the question he had slipped his mind when they mocked him.

The aliens turned and left without another word, closing the hidden door behind them.

"Keith," he whispered, just loud enough to reach his teammate. He stirred slightly at the mention of his name, but didn't wake up. "Keith," he said again, louder. The other boy didn't make any indications that he heard Lance, this time.

Lance groaned, tugging at his wrists again. Surprisingly enough, his cuffs made a beeping noise and flashed orange, removing themselves from his wrists. "Huh," he said, because he couldn't think of anything else to say as he quickly pushed himself to where Keith was laying, still unconscious.

He was laying on his stomach, face tilted to the left with his arms sprawled out beside him. Every time he shifted in his sleep, he groaned quietly. 

"Keith," he said, turning Keith so he was on his back. "Keith, wake up. I'm going to help you."

The unspoken ' _Somehow_ ' hung in the air like a dead weight.

He could rip up his shirt to use as bandages for his bleeding arm. No, he should save that for if there's deeper or more cuts later on. 

He would probably need a sling for his left arm. He could probably use the sweater in his jacket, for that, and save the jacket for if it got cold. Right now, they seemed to have some sort of heater on- probably so they didn't die from hypothermia.

Lance placed his hands on his knees, huffing in frustration. How could he help Keith if he couldn't even wake him up?

He'd just have to work with him asleep.

But, he'd need a light, of some sort. He could hardly see, even with his eyes adjusted to the darkness around them.

"Hey, camera person!" He yelled, turning to the corner that contained the camera. "If you want me to help him, turn on some damn lights!"

A few minutes passed with nothing, and Lance was beginning to wonder if the camera alien had even heard him. Huffing on frustration, he turned back to Keith, pulling him into his laps, ready to work in the dark.

A light above him flickered on, giving him enough light to see

"It turn off when done," a rough voice said, presumably from the camera.

In that case, Lance would have to work slowly, but not slowly enough for Keith to die from blood loss, or something. He figured Keith wouldn't want to wake up in the complete dark; After all, he didn't like it when he woke up at the Castle. It was cute watching him try to find his boyfriend in the dark, hands clinging to his chest when Keith did.

Lance chuckled at the memory, but soon diverted his attention to the task at hand. The jacket was somewhere behind him, if he could reach it without upsetting Keith, he'd count it as a win.

He slowly bent backwards on his knees, silently thanking Keith for teaching him how to slide while bending his back at an unnatural angle. Once his back touched the floor, he moved his arm to stretch it above him, reaching for his jacket. Grasping the material, he sat up, careful not to disturb Keith when he brought his hand back.

"See, I'm assuming we aren't going to get bandages," he told the camera, taking his sweater out of the jacket. "Which could mean your race doesn't know what blood is, or you just want us to bleed out on the floor if we get more cuts. If you don't know what blood is--"

" _When_  the _Red_ _Paladin_ gets cuts deep enough to bleed out, we will send a form of bandages, yes," The camera person said, emphasis on when and Red Paladin.

"What do you mean ' _Red Paladin_ '? You can't just take one of us every day and hurt us! Our species has limits!"

"Hey! I'm talking to you!"

The camera alien was silent.

"You can't-!"

Keith groaned, eyes fluttering a few times before opening. " _Why_ are you so  _loud_ ," Keith demanded, not asked.

It was nice to see that Keith was acting normal. It meant he wasn't hurt too badly.

"Oh my god, Keith, are you okay?" Lance asked, bending so he could look Keith in the eye. Keith stifled a groan in response. "Where does it hurt the most?"

"They... they fucked something.. thing up in my head..." Keith mumbled, eyes slipping closed.

"Hey, no, stay awake. You just woke up," Lance said, patting his cheek. Keith huffed, but opened his eyes. He was tired.

Why wouldn't Lance let him sleep?

"I'm really sorry for asking, but I need to know what's wrong, other than what I can see, and I don't want you to relive that, so if you don't want to answer, babe, I understand-" Keith furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. 

"No.. it's okay, but... why.. why did yo-you call me... me babe..?" Keith asked slowly, trying to make himself comprehensible.

"What? I've been calling you babe since we first kissed," Lance stated. They've kissed? Why would they kiss? They were rivals. Sure, Keith had a major crush on the guy, but... kissing? They hadn't started dating, had they?

"We... We've kissed..?" Keith asked, stifling a cough, trying not to worry Lance more.

 "I-What? Of course we have! Don't you... Don't you remem- Oh. No, you wouldn't," Lance sighed in exasperation, dragging a hand over his face.

"W..what?"

"They fucked with your brain, didn't they?"

Keith nodded.

"They probably fucked up that part. Point is, we started dating, like, four weeks ago. The team knows about it, you kinda just started walking around with my jacket on. Oh, and then we made out in the kitchen, waiting for them to walk in, because that was a lot easier and less mortifying then going up to your brother-"

"I have a brother?"

"I don't know your relationship with Shiro, but anyways, it was easier that way. Now shut up and let me patch you up. I'll answer questions later," Lance said, putting a hand on Keith's back, pushing him up. When Keith explained everything, the memories slowly came back to him. Everything was still a bit hazy, but he could make them out enough to remember the night Keith nearly imploded because of his confession.

"Do..." Keith wheezed, "Do you want m-me to sit up?"

"Yes," Lance said. "Do you think you can do that?"

Keith nodded. Lance let go of his back, grabbed his sweater, and-

Keith was on the ground again. He grinned sheepishly at Lance.

"You're an idiot," Lance huffed, putting the sweater back down. "I'm gonna lean you on a wall, okay?"

"'kay."

* * *

 Lance finished tying the sling around Keith's neck, and moved to his other arm. He circled his wrist, gingerly lifting up to get a better look at the cut. For the most part, it had been quiet during the time Lance had leaned him against the wall and put his arm in a sling. There were the occasional " _Does this hurt?"_ or " _are you okay?"_ s, but that was about it. It made Lance uncomfortable, but he didn't want Keith to waste energy by talking. They'd talk later; besides, Keith was more comfortable in the silence. Unless it was the morning, and he just woke up, looking for Lance, he normally preferred it. The silence had calmed him. He had explained to Lance once that it helps him settle his thoughts, think about new ways to train, take down Zarkon, but most importantly, he could hear if anyone came into the room. He couldn't do that as a kid; the other people in his group home were too noisy for that, so whenever the adults came in, he never heard it, and it lead to... unfortunate circumstances.

"Ow- Fuck! Lance!" Keith yelped, pulling his hand back with as much strength as he could muster.

It wasn't much.

"Wha-Oh,  _oh,_ " Lance let go of Keith's arm. His thumb had been digging into the cut while he thought. " _Dios mio_ , I am so sorry-"

"It..It's fine."

Lance swallowed, tentatively taking Keith's arm again. He tensed, but didn't pull away. The cut started from his upper bicep, trailing down to the base of his hand. "Of course it's too long for my sleeve, of fucking course!" Lance snapped, letting go of his arm and dropping his head into his hand. 

"Lance, are you okay..?" Keith reached out 

"What do you think,  _babe_ _?_ " Lance practically spat the last word. He wasn't mad at Keith. He could never be mad at Keith, even when they had a 'rivalry'. He was mad at the entire situation. "First, I got electrocuted. Next, we got captured. Third, I woke up in a cell  _without_ any idea where you could be, or if you were even alive. Fourth, they brought you back, beaten to a bloody pulp, and they were entire willingly to let you crack your skull when you fell, by the way! And finally, I learnt that they fucked with your brain and made you forget about our relationship! Not to mention, we've got no fucking way out of here, unless, of course, we try to escape, but that's so not happening any time soon.

"So, no, Keith,  _I am not okay!_ " Lance huffed, ducking his head.

Keith gaped at him. He was getting bits and pieces, but not enough. He needed all of it to make Lance feel better, if he even could. He was never good at comforting.

Lance continued prodding Keith, looking for any concealed injuries in a tense silence. Lance mumbled the few injuries he had, eyebrows furrowed out of confusion or anger; Keith would never know. He assumed the latter.

Lance poked his chest, and fuck- okay, that hurt- "Stop touching that!" Keith hissed, swatting his mostly good arm at Lance's hand. Lance took his hand back, narrowing his eyes at Keith's rib cage. "Fuck," he mumbled, dropping his head onto the wall, no longer having energy to support it.

"Broken rib," Lance said, mentally adding it to his list of injuries on Keith. "or something like that."

"No shit," Keith growled, moving to cross his arms. He soon remembered he couldn't.

After a few more pokes to Keith's legs, Lance sat back on his arms, looking at Keith's face, worry consuming his movements. "So, uh, sorry for snapping at you. I'm kinda just pissed at-at everything right now, and you being hurt did  _not_ make my day."

They sat in silence for the next few minutes, Lance watching Keith while Keith awkwardly tried to avoid his eyes. He was waiting for the memories to fully come back to him, if they would, before he spoke up. He wasn't sure what was taken from his head exactly, of course he wouldn't, they  _took it_ , but he noticed a lot of the blanks that were left behind.

He couldn't remember how they formed Voltron, he couldn't remember what happened after he took Lance's hand when Sendak was defeated, he didn't know why there was a cow in the Castle-- it was all taken from him. He remembered going to the Blade of Marmora's base, but he couldn't remember what happened after Shiro had helped him up. They were all slowly coming back to him, like the cows name was Kaltenecker, but it was all pretty... scrambled. His head was scrambled, just like Shiros was, when they got him back.

"Keith?" Lance asked, snapping his fingers in front of his face. Keith blinked, shaking his head.

"What?"

"I've been calling your name for the past five minutes. You were brooding again," Lance teased, moving his legs so he could sit cross legged.

Keith glared at him.

"Anyways," Lance said, setting his hands in his lap, fiddling with his jacket.

_Wasn't... Wasn't I wearing that?_

Keith's mind supplied, very helpfully, might he add.

"If you don't mind me asking, do you know what happened when you were with the aliens?" Lance asked, raising his eyes to meet Keith's. "Did they ask you stuff about Voltron, or...?

Keith's brows furrowed as he tried to recall. He remembered them saying something about not knowing his species, then proceeding to stab at his arm. It was painful to remember, but he had to. They were very intent on trying to make Keith scream, or make any noise, at all, instead of Keith making his lip bleed.

"Um, I think... I think they were just seeing what made me work? I don't think they've seen a human before."

"That would make sense," Lance mumbled.

Keith snorted before continuing. "They mentioned something about not seeing our species before, then, um..." He raised his bleeding arm. Well, it had stopped bleeding, but Lance got the point. "Then, they, um, did this," Keith said, moving his sprained arm as much as he could. "I don't know if they meant to, uh, break it? Is it broken?"

Lance nodded.

"Yea, I don't think they meant to break it," Keith continued, looking down at his arm. Now that he thought about it, it did look broken. "It looked like their arms could move where ever, like they didn't even have bones. I watched one tentacle-" Keith shuddered at the thought. It had gone  _in_ him, in the most disgusting way possible. "Do- do something, then the guy had to grab something, so he just turned around, with the tentacle," he swallowed down puke. "still there, and it just, kinda, wrapped around him."

"Where was the tentacle?" Lance asked.

Keith visibly paled, eyes downcast. "Somewhere," he mumbled, bangs covering his face. He remembered how they had tried to make him scream while electrocuting his insides. Sure, they hadn't meant to break his arm, but they did mean to hurt him.

"Somewhere?" Lance asked, brows furrowed in confusion. Keith looked up, not saying anything, only hoping his eyes showed what he wanted to say, but couldn't because of the lump in his throat.  _Please drop it, I don't want to talk about it._ He didn't want to talk about it. He really, really,  _really_ didn't. Keith watched Lance's adams apple bob as he swallowed, seeming to get it. "Oh," he breathed. " _Oh._ Keith, I am so sorr-"

"It's fine," Keith muttered, wincing as he brought his knees to his chest, resting his forehead on them. He squeezed his eyes shut, refusing to let the tears fall. He breathed in shakily, shoulders shuddering with the movement.

He felt arms wrap around his shoulders, hesitantly dragging him closer. He stiffened at first, making Lance stop, but quickly relaxed, letting Lance pull him in. It felt natural, to be like this, be embraced by Lance, like they'd been doing it for years.

They probably had been.

Just as he thought about it, the memories that were taken came back. He gasped as they hit him, it felt like he was being burned from the inside out. It only lasted for a few seconds, then died down, just as fast as it came.

"Keith?" Lance asked, removing his arm from Keith's shoulders. "Keith, what is it?"

" _I know you want to sleep, but I just- I need- I need to know you're alive, I hadn't been able to sleep while you were in the pod- the memory of you just lying there, lifeless in my fucking arms-_ " Keith rephrased the moment he confessed word for word. Well, he was going to. Lance cut him off at arms, pulling him into a soft kiss. They separated quickly after that, but Lance didn't let go. He pulled Keith into his lap, letting Keith lean sleepily onto Lance's shoulder. "I'm sorry I di'n't remember before."

"It's fine," Lance sighed, placing a kiss to Keith's forehead. This wasn't the time to be doing any of this, but Lance didn't care. He wanted Keith safe and in his arms. They sat like that for a few moments, Keith struggling to stay awake. His eyelids fluttered every few seconds, just as he started leaning more heavily onto Lance. "Hey," Lance said, grabbing Keith's attention. He looked up from Lance's shoulder. "Sleep. I'll be here when you wake up."

A frown tugged at Keith's lips. He sighed, resting his head on Lance's shoulder. "Promise?"

Lance smiled, leaning against the wall. "Promise."

Keith let exhaustion consume him, knowing Lance would be there when he woke up.

* * *

"Up."

Lance glared at the leader alien before him. He wasn't going to let go of Keith, and he most definitely wasn't leaving with him. He promised Keith. He wasn't going anywhere.

"Get. Up."

When Lance continued to glare, the commander/general person moved forward.

"If you do not get up, we  _will_ take your mate," It said, tentacle already moving to grab Keith.

Lance blanched. He wouldn't let them take Keith again, no matter the cost. He sighed, letting go of Keith and placing him on his back on the floor. He stirred slightly, but didn't wake up. He stood up, hissing in pain as the tentacle wrapped around his arm and dragged him forward.

It dragged him out of the room, and Lance had to use all of his willpower from tearing the tentacle off of him and going back to Keith.

It would only hurt Keith further.

He couldn't go back until he was sent back by the guards, even if he promised Keith he'd be there when he woke up.

They turned a few corners, they, as in the alien dragging Lance along as Lance tried to stop walking, until they reached a room the reeked of blood. They were going to torture him like they did Keith.

Which, of course, he would be fine with, as long as it kept Keith okay.

"Paladin," it snarled, pushing Lance into the room. It shut behind them, locking as it placed it's tentacle on the pad. "We have questions."

Two guards seized Lance from behind, activating his cuffs to link together. They let go of him once they were sure he couldn't get out.

"If you do not answer, your mate will be hurt further. Do you understand?"

Once more, Lance blanched, nodding as he swallowed the lump in his throat.

"If we find that you lie, your mate  _will_ die. Understand?"

Lance nodded.

"Good. Let us begin."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wOW. that was meant to be the first chapter of a kidnapped fic, and it turned out to be like 5k long?? omfg.  
> okay, so if you didnt get it, it was implied that keith was raped by the weird ass aliens.  
> the cuffs in this were taken from maychorians "bars cant hold us". i dont want to go trhough the hassle of putting a link so if you want to read it just look it up or something  
> oh, and i know its canon that keiths eyes are blue-gray, but i dont give a fuck, those are so purple  
> i ALSO HOPED YOU ENJOYED, FEEDBACK IS GREATLY APPRECIATED  
> i love constructive criticism btw, it helps me write better.  
> okay, so, next chapter, what do you guys want?  
> more hurt keith, no hurt keith, fluff...?  
> gimme your opinion in comments :)  
> (now ive gotta get back to writing my other fucking story because ive been ignoring it lmao)


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...  
>  im sorry?  
> sorry for the long wait;)  
> um, i also wanted to add the tag one sided lance/lotor/keith but technically it isn't one sided because keith/lance??  
> so yeah. keep that in mind-  
> WITHOUT FURTHER ADO

"What race are you?"

"Martian."

_Lie._

"What galaxy are you from?"

"The Watery Way."

_Lie._

"Why do you fight against the Galra?"

"To keep people safe."

"Congratulations," the alien made a facial motion similar to a sadisitic smile. "That's the first truth you've told."

Lance blanched. "W-what?! Everything I said was true!"

"Oh look! Another lie!"

A screen appeared in front of him.

"What are-?"

The screen turned on, showing a visual of their cell.

Keith was in one of the corners, chained to the ceiling by his wrists, eyes wide and in pain as he stared at the alien in front of him. 

"Don't fucking touch him!" Lance pulled at his chains, as if he could reach Keith through the screen.

The alien ignored him, folding his tentacles behind himself.

Lance continued to pull and curse at the alien, but he couldn't pull his eyes away from the screen.

Away from Keith. 

Keith jerked his head away from the alien, whose tentacles were reaching to grab his head.

He kicked out at the alien, causing it to stumble back.

Keith breathed heavily glaring at the alien before him.

It made a noise akin to a growl, then wrapped it's tentacle around Keith's leg.

Fear flashed across his eyes as he tried to kick out once more.

A loud snap filled the small cell as Keith let out an inhuman noise.

Lance stopped struggling and stared at the screen with a murderous glint in his eyes.

"I. Will. Kill. Every. Last. One. Of. You," Lance hissed.

"I am certain you won't," the alien responded calmly.

Lance stared at the screen in horror while the alien wrapped it's tentacles around Keith's head.

Unable to defend himself any longer, all he could do was try to move away.

He didn't succeed.

Once the tentacles held his head in place, they started to glow. Keith's eyes widended before they became glazed over, body going slack beneath it's hold.

"What are you doing to him? Stop!"

After a few more seconds, the alien let go of Keith, who would've fallen if he weren't strung to the ceiling, and left the cell.

Lance was ignored once again.

" _Lance... What... what are you doing..?_ " Keith asked, staring at the wall in front of him.

"I'm- Keith, what are you-?" The alien beside him look extremely amused.

" _What..? Y-you know I'm not one of them..._ "

Lance watched in horror as a few tears fell from his eyes.

" _I... I wouldn't..._ "

Keith gasped.

" _N-no! Lance, please! You know I didn't-!_ "

"Keith, I'm not-"

" _I... Lance, please..._ "

Electricity erupted from the chains holding him, just as the screen cut off.

Lance could hear Keith's screams through the walls.

"What the fuck just happened," it was a question, but Lance said it more as a demand.

"Do you really wish to know, Paladin?"

Lance glared at the alien.

"You lied."

Something hard hit the back of his head, and his vision went black.

* * *

 When Lance woke up, he was back in the cell. He couldn't quite remember where he was-

Shit.

"Keith?" 

Lance scanned the room, trying to find him. 

"Keith, where are you?"

Lance stood up on shaky legs, trying to find him from a higher view. He swayed, catching himself on the wall of the cell. Lifting a hand to the back of his head, he hissed in pain, feeling something slick, as well. Lance pulled back, bringing his hands to his eyes. Blood.

"Keith, I-" A familiar outline was huddled in the corner.

Sighing in relief, Lance made his way over quietly, careful not to disturb him if he was sleeping. He knelt beside Keith, who was curled into a ball, shaking with muffled sobs. His head was tucked in between his chest and knees; unable to see Lance.

"Keith," he said quietly; softly, reaching a hand out to rub his shoulder. "Are you okay?"

All of a sudden, the sobs and shaking stopped. He uncurled himself, giving Lance a death glare, tears still trailing down his cheeks. He gave a hollow, bitter laugh. " _Am I okay_ ," he repeated with venom, "Get away from me."

Lance's eyes widened. Why was Keith mad? He pulled back his hand. "What's wrong?"

"Go away!"

"I- Keith," Lance said, choking down a sob. God, he was pathetic. He knew this would happen one day. " _Please_."

"Fuck you," he muttered darkly. Keith moved to shove him away, only to drop his arm with a sharp intake of breath. Lance moved to help him- Keith clutched it close to his chest, glaring even harder than before. "Don't fucking touch me. Don't you ever fucking touch me again."

"Wha- Keith, what did I do?"

" _What did you do_ ," Keith parroted, voice, once again, filled with venom. "Try thinking. It's what you do when you're smart, dumbass."

Lance ignored his harsh words, knowing that something wasn't right. He racked his brain for something he could've done to Keith-

"Oh," he breathed. "Keith, that wasn't me, I swear to God, that wasn't me. I _promise_ -"

Keith laughed bitterly once more. "Y-you took _my_ knife, and held it in front of my face, showing me the blood on it," Keith growled, but another tear had escaped. "You told me I killed them, you called me a stupid Galra, y-you told me you didn't love me. You know what you _promised_?"

Lance was frozen in shock, staring at Keith with wide eyes.

"You promised you'd never hurt me," Keith did sob that time, "That you loved me, no matter what would happen, that you'd always love me," Keith covered his eyes, " _You promised_ ," Keith finished with a heartbroken voice.

"Keith-"

"No!" Keith snapped, weakly kicking at him with his good leg. "Leave me alone!"

"Keith, please, listen-"

"Fuck you!"

" _Baby_ , _please_ ," Lance cupped Keith's face in his hands. He glared at him through teary eyes. "Just listen. Please."

Keith remained silent, eyes downcast.

"It wasn't me. You know I would never say any of that- I love you, I love you so fucking much. You know I would never hurt you- and I know you enough to know that you'd never hurt anyone on our team. So, please, listen to me when I tell you- It wasn't me, and I love you so, so, so much-"

Keith sobbed, squeezing his eyes shut and burying his face into Lance's shoulder, as he wrapped his mostly good arm around him. "I-" Keith hiccuped. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't- _I'm sorry_ -"

"It's okay," Lance rubbed his back. "It's okay."

"I love you," Keith sobbed again. "I'm sorry-"

"I love you too," Lance kissed the top of his head. "Stop apologizing."

"But-"

"No," With one final rub, he let go of Keith. "Are you hurt? They electrocuted you-"

"'m fine," Keith's words didn't reassure him- he had a habit of hiding his injuries, but he let it slide. 

They sat in a mostly comfortable silence after that, neither able to come up with something to talk about. Lance slowly got to his feet, pacing the room as he tried to think of an escape plan. Keith watched with a bemused expression, but was probably thinking the same thing. Lance had restless energy and needed to move, so he paced instead of sitting.

"Well," Lance finally sighed, flopping beside Keith, "I think we're out of options."

"Wha- you can't just give up!"

"Yeah? What's your bright idea?"

Keith's brow furrowed quickly before he scowled and stuck his tongue out at Lance. "Fuck you."

"Babe, we're in a cell-"

"What the fuck, Lance!?" He lightly jabbed Lance's arm, wincing when a cut rubbed against his shirt.

"We've gotta get those fixed up," Lance muttered, kissing the cut that went across his knuckles.

"You're doing that now, aren't-?"

Keith was cut off with the sudden slam of a door opening (which is weird, because they _slide upwards_ ), revealing the alien that had taken him from the shop, _from Lance_ , and the one that had broken his leg, which still hurt like a motherfucker.

Lance practically growled at the two aliens entering the room, covering Keith's body with his own.

"Up," it commanded, pointing a tentacle at them.

"He can't," Lance hissed, hand tightening into a fist. "You _broke_ his fucking _leg_."

"Up," it repeated, ignoring Lance. 

"He can't, you-!" Keith shushed him by placing a hand on his forearm.

"It's fine," he said quietly, "just help me up-"

"Help you up," Lance growled, glaring at the aliens he still hadn't learned the names of, "These fucking idiots broke your leg and you think you can stand?"

"Lance, it-"

"It's not fin-!" 

Something grabbed Lance by his bicep, hauling him to his feet. Lance struggled in it's grip, effectively punching the creature before getting his hands cuffed behind him. They pulled him away from a pissed off and scared Keith, who was scowling at the person holding Lance, moving to get up.

"No- you idiot, don't get up-"

The other alien (who was probably the leader), with the mechanical arm, slithered(?) towards Keith, tentacle outstretched and wrapping around his injured arm.

Keith grunted in pain, but made no other noise as it pulled him to his feet.

But, when he was forced to stand, on his broken leg, he howled in pain, dropping to floor in a writhing, ungraceful heap.

"Keith! You fucking bastards- I'll snap your fucking neck-"

"Be quiet," the leader hissed- to Keith or Lance, he didn't know. When something wrapped around his mouth when he kept yelling at them, he assumed it was to Lance.

Keith remained on the floor, but had managed to curl into a half ball. His eyes were squeezed shut and he was biting his lip; clear signs that Keith was trying not to cry. 

"Pathetic runt," it hissed, stepping on Keith's leg. Well, what Lance assumed was stepping on. It seemed to lift all of it's body fat and drop it onto Keith.

"No!" Lance yelled, muffled by the gag, just as Keith started screeching, trying to weakly push the body away.

Eventually, Keith's screams turned into whimpers and sobs, though not a single beg escaped his lips. Lance still struggled furiously; it was as if they were keeping him here to watch him suffer-

Oh no.

"'op! Don't hur' 'im!" Lance wrestled one of the tentacles off. He whipped his head around until the gag fell to his neck. "Hurt me! Leave him alone!"

"Ah, Blue Paladin," it purred, taking it's weight off of Keith, who had started to hyperventilate. Keith gasped, choking on a son that escaped his throat. "You should've thought about that before you lied," it flicked it's tentacle towards the door, motioning for the other to leave. It uncuffed Lance first, pushing him forwards as it left the cell with it's leader. "We will be back later," it said calmly, and the door shut.

Lance collapsed to his knees beside Keith, pulling the shaking, sobbing boy into his lap, careful to avoid his leg.

Keith was shaking violently in his arms, clutching at Lance's arms desperately with his eyes squeezed shut. " _It hurts_."

"I know, baby, I know, just hold on, okay? I- I'll try and make it better-" Lance looked to the corner where the camera was, mouthing 'help him, or he might die'. Lance wasn't sure if it was his imagination or not, but the camera blinked a red light.

" _Please_ , Lance, make it stop, _it hurts_ ," Keith whimpered, more tears leaking out of his eyes as his (very much) broken leg twitched. " _It hurts_."

"I know," Lance whispered, rubbing his hand up and down Keith's arm. "I'm sorry."

Keith's eyes fluttered open then, catching Lance's gaze. They were filled with pain, and desperation, and sadness-

"Get me one of your fucking medics!" Lance screamed, tearing his eyes away from Keith, who never openly fucking sobbed, "He's going to fucking die if you don't treat that!"

As if on cue, two aliens walked through the sliding door. One was a new colour- completely white, and the other one wasn't one Lance had seen before. It was like the others, but Blue, with less fat and more ar- tentacles. The white one slithered(?) towards Keith, a white box in hand.

Lance full on growled at it, covering as much of Keith's body, with his own, that he could. 

"He here to heal friend," the blue one spoke, failing to grammar and word completely. "You try things, he die."

"Move," the white one ordered, stopping a few feet away from Keith's trembling frame.

Lance swallowed over the lump in his throat, reluctantly moving away from Keith, but keeping his head in his lap.

"Move."

"I am not going to stop touching him. His head stays in my lap," Lance snarled, taking Keith's hand in his own.

The alien made a sort of huffing noise, but lowered itself to the floor by Keith's leg.

"Squeeze my hand, baby," Lance whispered into Keith's ear. "This is probably going to hurt."

Keith nodded, though his eyes were glassy and distant, still leaking tears. 

"Why does he leak," The blue alien (who can't grammar or word properly) said, thought it was a question.

"Because he's in pain, you dumbass," Lance glared at the alien, who seemed to shrink under his gaze.

Keith's breath hitched. Lance's head snapped back to Keith, any sign of anger gone from his face. " _Lance_ ," he gasped. " _Where_ -?"

"I'm right here," Lance murmured, gently squeezing his hand. "It's okay-"

At that exact moment, Keith let out a bloodcurdling scream that would haunt Lance forever. He squeezed Lance's hand hard enough for it to hurt badly, but he didn't notice- he couldn't notice-

Keith's screamed soon faded into whimpers and sobs, and just like before, he didn't once beg them to stop.

When the alien finished it's work, Keith had curled into a ball, a shaking and sobbing mess, on the verge of hyperventilating.

"Bastards," Lance growled, pulling Keith protectively close.

"It will hurt for hours on end," the alien rumbled. "But it will be healing. He should be fine within five of your..." The alien took a moment to think, "vargas. From then on out, just dull throbbing."

They left the room after that, leaving no sort of painkillers for Keith.

"Hey," Lance said softly, lightly tapping his cheek. "Are you-" no, he wasn't okay. Keith was definitely not okay. "Are you cold?" He didn't have much to offer-

Keith nodded weakly, even with his head pillowed on Lance's legs. His eyes didn't open.

"I'll grab the coat, okay?" Keith nodded again. Lance grabbed Keith's head as gently as he could, keeping his hand under his head until it was on the floor.

Keith's eyes flickered open when it was gone. "N-no," he whimpered, "st-stay."

"I don't want you to get hypothermia," Lance almost cried from Keith's face alone. He looked so small- vulnerable, in pain, Lance wanted to hold him and never let go, making all of their troubles disappear.

" _L-Lance_ ," Keith let out a choked sob, as if he was trying to muffle it. Lance grabbed the jacket and bolted back, pulling Keith into his lap and wrapping it around him.

"I'm here," he rocked them back and forth slowly, careful to avoid Keith's injuries. "I'm right here, and I'm not leaving," He buried his face in Lance's neck, his sobs muffled against the tan skin. Lance carded his fingers through the soft mullet, whispering soothing words and reassurances until he could feel Keith's breathing even out. His sobs and tears stopped, indicating he had fallen asleep. Good. He didn't need to be awake for the pain. 

Lance leaned against the stone wall, burying his nose in Keith's hair. "This is my fault," Lance whispered, making sure not to wake Keith up. "I'm sorry."

"'s not your fault," Keith mumbled, shifting in Lance's arms. "Don' be sorry," Keith weakly grabbed Lance's hand, intertwining their fingers. "'love you."

Lance sighed deeply. "I love you too, baby. Get some sleep."

"O-okay," and Keith was asleep once more, away from the pain.

God, he'd make those bastards suffer for hurting Keith.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kinda short, i guess. sorry.  
> i hope you enjoyed that.  
> when i put the "he can't word or grammar," that was on purpose, and i say it irl all the time.  
> feedback is greatly appreciated, good or bad, hope you enjoyed, and sorry for the long wait!  
> OH, and this isn't three chapters long. i just liked the ring to "The Space Mall Chronicles - Featuring Keith and Lance."  
> (the angst is not finished.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Keith gasped, choking on a son that escaped his throat."  
> Typo?  
> Coincidence?  
> Foreshadowing?  
> You tell me.  
> lmao sorry for the wait, it would've been up sooner, but i had school, then one weekend break which was spent at a wedding and my sisters house. oops.

Lance thought it was impossible to feel pain in your sleep. When you're hurt, it seems to fade away into nothingness until you wake up again, even if you were in a cryopod. Sure, it heals you inside and out, but you can still feel the phantom pain of a knife going through your chest.

So, when Keith woke up with a pained gasp, hands scrabbling to find Lance, he wasn't all that surprised.

When he was wincing and to whimpering in his sleep, he was more or less confused.

"Keith," Lance said quietly, grabbing one of Keith's hands. He immediately calmed down, curling into Lance. "It's okay, I'm right here."

Keith looked up from Lance's shoulder, tears threatening to spill over as he tightened his grip on Lance's hand. "W-why... does my head hurt if my leg is broken?"

"Concussion, babe," Lance kissed the top of his head gently, trying not to aggravate his already concussed head. "It'll be okay. We'll get out soon-"

"But... what if... what if we don't? What if they don't come for us?" Keith whispered, resting his forehead on Lance's shoulder.

"They will," Lance said gently, but with a forceful tint to his words. 

"B-"

"Go back to sleep, okay? It should be another hour or so until your leg isn't-"

Lance felt Keith suppress a scream when the door banged open, the blue alien from before walking in. Behind him was the orange alien, the leader, and wow, he looked pissed.

"You filfthy half-breed," it hissed, robotic tentacle whipping out to grab Keith as it slithered closer. Before Lance could shield Keith, it wrapped around his throat, earning a whimper of pain as it  pulled him away and forced him onto his knees before the alien.

"Hey!" Lance snapped, getting to his feet. The orange one hardly even spared him a glance; all of attention focused on Keith, who was gasping in pain in front of him, on his hands and knees. The metallic tentacle had returned to his side, but now, his flesh tentacle was in Keith's pants. "Get away from him!" Lance moved to punch the guy, or something, but a blue tentacle wrapped around his waist, pulling him away and out of the room.

"Let me go!" Lance screamed, writhing in the things grip. He needed to get to Keith- he needed to help him-

"It better this way," The thing sounded scared. Why did it sound scared? Surely Lance wasn't intimidating, he's their prisoner! "He get less hurt."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Lance growled, twisting in the alien's grip. "You're the idiots who-!"

The alien dropped him in a room, mumbled a quick 'sorry' then closed the door, leaving Lance alone in a dark, locked room.

Without Keith.

Alone with his thoughts, Lance analyzed the cell he was in. It was a bit different than the last; There were two windows, and instead of an invisible door, it was a clear, transparent door, but none of the items offered light. It was pitch black, and Lance found himself wanting to go back to the other cell. He could see out of the door if he focused on it long enough--

A visual of some sort appeared on the wall.

Keith was strapped to a table in their cell (which had magically appeared somehow), face down with his shirt off. Tears coated his cheeks, mixing into the blood on the table- 

What?

Where had the blood come from..?

Lance's eyes suddenly focused on Keith's back, stifling more screams.

Long, deep gouges covered it, accompanied with an unending stream of red pouring out of each one. From what Lance could see, there were... 14.

14 whip marks on his boyfriend's back.

Partially burying his anger, he moved his attention to the alien hovering over Keith-

That's why Keith was crying.

Not from the pain.

Keith didn't have pants on anymore- they were on the floor, blood dripping onto them, beside the table. The metal tentacle of the alien was in Keith's boxers, a sadistic grin covering what Lance assumed was his face. Keith would twitch every so often; his muscles tensing and relaxing as he pulled at his restraints.

"Half breed," it snarled, disgusted. Lance was fuming, pounding his fists on the door. How _dare_ they. "You're a menace. Your kind is disgusting- just like you. Pathetic, filfthy, stupid... disappointing."

Keith sobbed as the tentacle sparkled with electricity, blood trailing down his inner thigh. He bit his lip, stopping any other sounds from escaping his mouth. Lance growled, shoving himself at the door, but unable to tear his eyes away from the video.

"Beg," it growled, biting down on Keith's shoulder.

Keith weakly shook his head.

"Beg," it repeated, shoving more of his tentacle in. Blood dripped from Keith's mouth, muscles spasming beneath the restraints. "Or your lover-"

"Don't touc-!" Keith screamed as the alien's entire tentacle disappeared within the boxers.

Lance knew what the alien was doing.

And it was going to die.

"Beg. Apologize for your filthy kind. Please me."

"P-please. Don't hurt him," he sobbed quietly, eyes squeezing shut as tears leaked free. 

"Oh? What would you do to keep him safe?" It asked, more of its body going into Keith as he smiled directly into the video; directly at Lance. Lance yelled out some profanities, scowling at the alien.

"I... don't hurt him. Please. I'll answer y-your questions- I'll do what you want me to-" 

"No! Keith, don't!" Lance screamed, causing Keith to cut off. He stared at what Lance thought was the door, eyes wide in shock.

"Lance..? Where-?" Keith gasped in pain as the alien's flesh tentacle put pressure one one of his cuts. 

"Stop!"

The alien hummed, removing its tentacle from Keith's back. It had a line of blood, slowing falling from it's tentacle and adding onto the small puddle of blood. "Guards, prepare a hailing frequence."

Someone in the background must have nodded; the orange alien seemed satisfied as it turned back to Keith.

"Tell me, little Galra, would you like to keep your lover safe?"

"Y-yes," Keith whimpered, convulsing under his restraints as the tentacle spat electricity.

"Good," it grinned wickedly.

Lightning fast, the tentacle was ripped out of Keith. He screamed, more tears escaping his closed eyes. The alien just stood there and laughed, his metal tentacle slick with blood. 

The alien hummed, ignoring Keith's pleas. It put its tentacle back into Keith's boxers. Keith went rigid, turning a sickly pale with sweat coating his face. "That's much better," it sighed, pulling the tentacle ou. "Not so tight anymore, hm?"

" _What_?" Lance hissed, staring at the screen with wide eyes, while Keith's widened with fear. 

* * *

When the visual shut off, Keith was chalk white, shaking, crying, and begging. Begging for it all to stop, to get out of him, stop hurting him, he needs Lance- It was going to haunt Lance forever. 

He never thought he would ever see the mighty Keith Kogane humbled.

Especially not by some douches who _kidnapped_ them.

These idiots were going to make Keith hate himself again, and he had just gotten Keith over that- he had self confidence and other shit now.

If they ruined all of that, God, Lance was going to-

The door startled him out of his thoughts. The blue alien appeared, this time holding a struggling purple alien who had yellow irises- not eyes. He had waist long silver hair, like Allura's, and torn up red clothing. Lance wasn't sure if it was blood or the original colour. The alien didn't seem Galra, but half breeds existed, if Keith was anything to go by. 

He didn't get to ponder that thought long, though, as the prisoner was thrown onto his ass in the room, and he blue alien had grabbed Lance and dragged him out.

"Blue Paladin," it said.

Lance ignored it.

"I am Rojina. When the lights go out tonight, stay on the far side of the cell, away from the door with the Red Paladin. I am aware that he cannot walk- we have a plan for that. I can't say anything else- I've already said too much. I'll make sure you two stay unchained- just stay away from the door. Do you understand?"

Lance swallowed harshly, confused by it all as he tugged on his restraints. "What- what are you talking about?"

"Do you understand?"

"Um. Yeah? No door?"

"Good. I am sorry for what I am about to do."

What the hell did any of that mean?

Before he could think about it, the alien, Rojina, opened the door to his cell, and dragged him in, the door shutting behind them. Rojina brought him to the wall, chaining him to what Keith had been chained in the other... day? Week? Honestly, Lance had lost the concept of time a while ago, but if they had just figured out that Keith was Galra, it couldn't have been too long.... right?

Lance steadied his breathing as the orange alien turned to him, Keith's head in his tentatcle's... hand? What the hell?

"Paladin," Keith had dry tear tracks on his face, mixed with the droplets of blood on his cheek. Though his face showed no emotion, his body betrayed him. He was still completely white, flecks of blood littering almost everywhere Keith could see, trembling beneath the creatures hold as he tried to pull the claws off. Lance could see Keith's chest expanding and- wow, that was fast.

"Breathe- Keith, breathe-"

"Don't speak, or I will crush his skull," the alien snarled. Lance watched as Keith bit his lip. A while ago, Keith had told him that he didn't care if he died or not, but he was scared of it. He didn't want to be without Lance (unless, of course, he was taking a bullet for Lance. Then it would be different).

"You're bluffing," Lance hissed back, tugging on the chains that held his arms up.

"Am I?"

Lance watched in horror as the clawed hand tightened around Keith's head, poking through his skin, causing him to bleed more- Keith's lip was bleeding, but his eyes were watering, and he looked so scared and helpless and alone and- they were just _kids_.

All of them.

"No- wait! Don't! I- I won't talk. I'm sorry," That seemed to satisfy it. It loosened it's hold on Keith's head, but didn't let go completely. Keith's chest was expanding way too quickly- Now that Lance thought about it, it looked like Keith was seconds from passing out. "What d-" Lance cut himself off.

"Good," It grinned, showing all of it's sharp, bloody teeth- How did they get bloody? "Let's see. Where was I?"

Lance glared at him, purposefully ignoring Keith. He'd scream if he saw Keith, he just knew it-

"Paladin, recently, this one," he threw Keith onto the ground by Lance's feet. Lance kept his tears down as Keith gasped in pain, struggling to get his arms under him. Lance growled at the orange alien, silently trying to comfort Keith as he rubbed his foot (which could touch the floor just fine- these chains were clearly meant to keep Keith suspended in the air) along Keith's uninjured thigh. "said that he wants to keep you safe. Is that true, half-breed?"

Lance growled at it again, foot freezing in the air. Keith glared weakly at it, getting onto his hands-

Keith whimpered in pain as the alien's foot (honestly, Lance didn't know what it was, but it was fat, and it was at the end of the things body, just covered by the body fat) connected with his stomach, immediately dropping back down, but this time, onto Lance's foot. Lance's chest squeezed painfully. "Don't fucking touch him!"

The alien seemed amused by that. It put it's weird foot thing onto Keith, forcing him back down. Keith tried to struggle, but he couldn't, he was so small in comparison to that- that _thing_. The alien hummed in disgust when Keith's body shook with silent cries, dropping his head onto the cold floor. He tried to curl around Lance's legs, as if he was trying to protect Lance. "Paladin, I told you not to speak."

Lance swallowed over the lump in his throat, tears collecting in his eyes. "Don't hurt him," Lance whispered, voice shaky, "Please."

"Why can't you follow a simple command?" Keith screamed. Well, he tried to scream. He didn't seem to have enough air as the alien stepped onto him fully, depositing all of it's weight onto Keith, feet disappearing beneath the fat. He was eye level with Lance, now. "Stop talking, and he'll be fine."

Lance nodded.

The alien took that in consideration, looking down in disgust at Keith, who had gone limp beneath him. "Pathetic," it spat, stepping off of the unconscious boy.

Lance just couldn't keep his mouth shut. "Really? He's pathetic?! You don't have the balls to take hi-!"

"Stupid boy," it hissed kicking Keith's torn, bloody back. No reaction. "Guard, cover his mouth."

"Yes, Latrino- I mean, I'm sorry, sir!"

"You should be," Latrino growled, but Rojina didn't look sorry at all.

"No- wai- he-!" The rest was muffled by the metallic gag being shoved into his mouth.

Rojina resumed it's post at the door, eyes locked onto the floor. 

Latrino grabbed Keith's limp form by the waist, hauling him into the air. His head lolled backwards, earning an aggravated huff from Latrino.

"Prepare the water," Latrino ordered the same alien, Rojina. He nodded, and disappeared through a door in the cell Lance didn't know existed. 

Lance tried to ask what the hell that meant, but all he could manage past the gag was "Mfolp!"

"We need to wake him up, don't we?"

Lance's eyes widened in fear. It wouldn't. It  _wouldn't_.

"Once the water is ready, bring the Blue Paladin into the room, and hold tightly onto the chains. He will want to see this," Latrino smiled wickedly, starting to drag Keith into the room. "You know what?"

Rojina came out of the room, key out to unchain Lance. He unchained Lance, pulling the gag out of his mouth. 

"Blue Paladin. You are to wake him up by holding his head underwater."

Lance froze in place, shaking his head. "No- no, no, no- I won't- I can't-"

"You can, and you will, or lover boy will lose a leg," Lance's eyes widened in fear as Latrino grabbed a blade from the wall, dropped Keith onto the ground, and placed it on Keith's foot. "Piece," it dug into Keith's skin. He twitched, but didn't wake up, "by," It got halfway through his ankle, blood dripping carelessly onto the ground. He didn't wake up. "Plea-"

"Stop! Stop, I'll do it. I'll drown him."

"Good Paladin," it smiled. He tore the knife from Keith's ankle, eliciting a scream from the semi conscious boy. "Carry him into the chamber."

Swallowing harshly, he bent down to grab Keith's knees as Latrino disappeared into the room. Rojina stayed and watched, but didn't bother-

"La... Lance? What..?" Keith was hardly conscious- his eyes kept closing, and- "Lance- Lance, my foot- I can't-!"

"Hey-" Lance blocked his view from his cut limb. He could go into shock. "Don't look at it, okay? Don't look at it."

It didn't matter anyways. Keith had closed his eyes, breathing going mostly steady.

"Hurry up!"

Lance rolled his eyes, scooping Keith into his arms, ignoring the way Keith's foot seemed to hand off of his leg, as if only a thread was holding it up. It wasn't- only half of it had been cut- it had hardly even reached the bone, but it still scared the shit out of Lance, especially with all of that blood-

"He's going to die of blood loss, asshat," Lance muttered under his breath, struggling to carry Keith and not hurt him at the same time. 

Latrino growled. "Guard, is the water boiling?"

"No, sir."

"Make it burn his skin."

Lance swallowed harshly, watching as Rojina emptied the bucket of water and refill it with boiling hot water.

The room they were in was some sort of a bathroom- There was some hovering sink-toilet in the corner, but it was orange, and a tiny square slot where the seat was. The sink was coming out of the wall; a simple nozzle with two handles and no containment to hold the water. The shower- no, bathtub, was currently in front of Lance, filling to the rim with boiling water. It was big enough to fit Hunk, Lance and Keith with all of them up to their necks in water, along with plenty of space leftover to move. It was deep, long and wide.

Despite it's size, it filled up quickly.

"Put him in it."

Lance's breath hitched. No- no. He wasn't putting Keith in that- no way, no-

"I can finish what I started, Paladin," it warned, bloody knife being twirled in it's claws. 

Taking a deep breath, Lance settled him on the edge of the tub, a hand on the only part of his back where there wasn't a cut, to keep him upright. 

"Clothes on o-?"

"Put him in it."

Lance nodded, turning Keith so his legs were in the tub (minus his boots and socks- they had been taken off at some poinnt) first. He was already thigh deep, his feet weren't even touching the ground yet! He ignored the way the water seamed to burn off his pants.

"All of him."

Pushing away the sting in his eyes (from the tears or the steam, Lance didn't know), he gently lowered Keith's upper half into the tub. He gasped in pain, eyes fluttering open. "L...Lan...?"

"I'm sorry-"

Latrino growled, dumping water onto Keith's head. Keith yelped in pain, more steam coming off of the water. 

"What was _that_?" Lance hissed, moving around Keith protectively, who had passed out again.

"Below zero water. Nearly negative... fifty degrees. My, that would hurt, don't you agree?"

Lance stared wide eyed at Keith. Yes. That would hurt.

"Paladin," it said through gritted fangs. "Unless you want that to happen again, follow. Your. Orders."

Lance nodded, whispering apologies to Keith, who wasn't awake to hear them.

He pushed on Keith's chest, careful to avoid his broken ribs.

Keith was pushed underwater.

His eyes opened almost immediately, thrashing beneath Lance's grip, betrayal covering his face. His mouth was shut, but Lance knew Keith- he could hold his breath for twenty seconds, tops.

Lance forced down a sob, tears running down his cheeks. Keith weakly grabbed his wrist, trying to force it off- but, he was so... hurt, and-

"You may release him," Latrino announced, just as Keith had started to go limp beneath Lance's hand.

Lance sobbed out of relief, hooking an arm around Keith's back and pulling him up. 

Once out of the water, Keith gasped mouthfuls of air, coughing out the water that got into his lungs. 

A few minutes after heart wrenching coughed and wheezes, Keith sagged bonelessly against the tubs rim, shrugging Lance's arm off of him. Lance ignored the sting in his chest- he would be the same way with Keith if he woke up to being drowned by his boyfriend.

"I'll give you two a moment," it said viscuously, leaving the room with the other alien. "You have ten dobashes until I come back."

The door shut behind them, and if the click was anything to go by, the door had locked.

"Keith, I-"

"Lan... Lance," Keith look at him, eyes full of betrayal, fear, pain and... heartbreak? "Why..? I th-thought... I could trus... trust you..."

"You can! I'm so sorry, Keith- they- they threatened to-"

"Af-After everything I did for you..." he mumbled, seemingly not hearing Lance. "Y-you... tried to... to drown me?"

"Keith, please, listen to me-"

"There... There's nothing to say, L... Lance."

"Yes, Keith-"

"I kn... knew it," he sighed, head hitting the wall with a dull thud. "That hologram was right... you don't l... love me..."

Lance slapped Keith, hard, momentarily forgetting about his injuries. Keith whimpered in pain. He felt bad for hitting Keith, but he wouldn't listen. He'd apologize for it later with a million kissed and cuddles. "Keith, listen," he ignored how Keith flinched away, curling into a half ball as a hand hovered over his red cheek. "Don't you ever say that again," he hissed, gently grabbing Keith's arm. He involuntarily whimpered, squeezing his eyes shut as he flinched. "I love you, and nothing will ever change that. Not the Galra genes, not the orphan shit, I don't care. I. Love. You."

From far away, it would seem like Keith was a rock without feelings- never cried, never touched people, never laughed, never got hurt, never loved, never got broken.

But wow, he was the opposite.

Once you got to know Keith like Lance did, he laughed all of the time. When he was a kid, he was always kicked out of foster homes or abused by them- by now, he had been extremely touch starved. He was always the one to cuddle into Lance at night (except on rare occasions, when Lance would be tired and flop onto Keith), he would never deny an opportunity to be near Lance. He wouldn't initiate the contact, sure, but whenever Lance touched him somehow, he would go big or go home. Most nights, they would find Keith curled into Lance's side, Lance's jacket draped over his small frame, with his eyes closed and arms wrapped around Lance's waist. Pidge would gag, Coran would send them a fond smile, Shiro would chuckle, ruffle Lance's hair when he blushed, then drop a pillow into Lance's lap, along with a blanket. Hunk would comment on how Lance probably broke Keith, and Allura... well, she just ignored it. She still seemed to be coming to terms with the fact that Keith was Galra. She looked like she would fight Keith if he got anywhere near hurting Lance, though. Which, of course, Lance would always respond with the middle finger and a glare, gently shushing Keith when he woke up and asked what was wrong sleepily.

Keith would get hurt all the time- that boy was very clumsy. He would stub his toe, hit his funny bone, get bruised during training- In fact, one time, he had broken his arm while fighting a Level Nine corrupted training bot, courtesy of leftover crystal venom.

He hardly cried, but when he did, it got a little... messy. He was a beautiful cryer, sure, trembling lip, small pout, red nose, and cute, heart wrenching sobs, but he would clutch Lance like a lifeline. Before all of this, he had seen Keith cry once. 

Keith was the first one to say 'I love you' and it wasn't even on purpose. He was exhausted, having not slept for days (he had been having nightmares recently), when Lance attacked him with tickles. He had been miserable that day- Lance coaxed him into a nap, for an hour, which resulted into yet another nightmare, which caused Keith to cling to Lance for the rest of the day. He couldn't tell if Keith was crying or not- his face was hidden under Lance's shirt. To make him feel better, Lance went to hug him. He rubbed his sides, warning a stifled laugh and muffled 'stop' from Keith. He soon learned that Keith was ticklish, which led to a ten minute tickle session, where Keith had breathlessly said it. He seemed to regret it the second he said it, hands covering his mouth as his cheeks turned red. With a matching blush, Lance had smiled, leaning down to lazily kiss Keith, who was pinned under him, and said 'I love you, too'.

He didn't think Keith could be broken.

He didn't want to find out.

But he did.

Everyone could be broken.

Taking a deep breath, he looked Keith straight in the eyes. "It was wake you up by drowning you, or let them cut off your leg," Lance shuddered as he remembered Latrino startin to chop off Keith's foot- God, what would happen if-

"Oh," Keith breathed, eyes slowly filling with tears. "'m sorry."

"Don't be sorry," Lance shook his head. " I should'a done somethin'. Whenever I talked, they would hurt you more- I should be the one that's sorry. Which I am."

"Don't... be.." Keith mumbled, leaning his cheek into Lance's hand. "You saved me from losing a... wait. Did I... did I l-lose my foot..? I-I can... can't feel it, a-and-"

"They..." Lance choked down a sob. "No. Just- don't look at your foot for a while, okay?"

Keith's eyes drifted to his foot.

Lance placed his hand over Keith's eyes. "I said no, dummy. You'll go into shock, or something."

"Okay," Keith answered simply, out of breath. "Can... can you get me out of this?"

"Oh- right. Yeah," Lance ignored the burnnon his hands as they met the water, pulling Keith into his arms. 

"I can... walk," he mumbled, head leaning on Lance's shoulder.

"Yeah, no. You can't. I've seen your legs."

Keith huffed, but didn't protest further. 

"Blue Paladin, leave the other Paladin in there and come out."

Keith froze in fear.

"What? What is it?"

"N-no... Don't le-leave me- please, Lance- I can't-" His fists tightened into the material of Lance's shirt, a few tears escaping his eyes. 

"I..." Lance looked between Keith and the door. They might hurt Keith if he stayed- "I have to. I'm sorry."

"N-no- please- Lance, they're going to- to hurt... hurt you- No! Lance!" Lance was already out of the room, ignoring Keith's heartbroken sobs, ignoring the way they made his heart squeeze-

"Ah, Paladin," Latrino said, tentacles behind it's back. "Let's begin, shall we?"

This wouldn't be good.

* * *

They only stopped because Keith had started screaming, his fists making loud noises as he punched he door- Lance knew he might die if he kept this up, and quickly informed the aliens of it, despite the spikes digging into his cheeks. 

Latrino huffed, turning off the machine, and pulling Lance off of it and dropping him onto the ground.

Lance grunted in pain, lifting himself onto his arms.

So far, they had just managed to get a square into his mouth, which had clasps that would dig into his cheeks if he talked.

His cheeks were bleeding, and wow, they hurt, but they hadn't done anything else.

Yet.

Rojina opened the door.

Keith abruptly fell forwards, landing on his face in a quiet whimper of pain. He quickly recovered, somehow pushing himself onto shaky legs as he yelled profanities at the aliens. 

Latrino found it all amusing (fuck him), especially when Keith almost passed out on top of Lance after being hit in the head with some type of crowbar by Rojina.

He didn't pass out, but he fell onto Lance, extremely dazed and hurt.

"That's all for now, Paladins," Latrino hissed, leaving the room. Lance rolled so he was laying on his back, Keith on his chest and face in the crook of his neck. His breathing was too shallow and laboured-

"Rojina- wait!" He yelled, stopping the blue alien as it was walking through the doorway. "He's going to die if he doesn't get medical attention."

Rojina nodded, muttered something about a door, and left the room.

Shit.

The door.

"Keith, Keith baby," Lance said softly, gently nudging Keith's shoulder with his own. Keith moved his head, blinking with clouded and glassy eyes. "I need to move you, okay?"

"'kay."

"It's going to hurt, but it's going to stop hurting soon, okay?"

"'kay."

Taking a deep breath, Lance rearranged them so they were sitting up. Keith gasped in pain, but the only protest he made was when his (probably) broken fingers dug into Lance's back. Ignoring the sobs coming from Keith, he buttscooted until Keith's back was pressed against the wall's corner, as far away from the door as possible. He had managed to snag his jacket during that time- he wrapped it around Keith, telling him: "I know it hurts, I know, but I can't have you getting hypothermia, too."

"It... it sm-smells like y-you..." he mumbled incoherently, nuzzling Lance's neck. 

Lance blushed, resting his chin on Keith's head. He contemplated on telling Keith about the door- it might scare him, but-

"La-Lance," Keith didn't look up from where he was falling asleep in Lance's arms, "I d...don't wanna do tha' again."

"I know baby, I know. We're getting out of here soon, okay?" Lance sighed. He really hoped they were getting out soon- he had no idea if they'd ever leave. There was no way for the team to track them, they were too far for Red or Blue to actually sent them- he knows, Blue told him, but they could still talk to eachother (well, Blue would send him thoughts and memories and photos and waves of emotions, while Lance argued about whether or not Keith's mullet was grown like that or if he cut it). He had no idea about Red, but he could still feel her in his mind from his short time of piloting her- before they found the real Shiro. Lance shuddered at the thought. When they got 'Shiro' back, it wasn't really Shiro. It was some clone from the Galra, Kuron (ha, very funny), programmed to destroy them and take the Lions. Keith was the first to figure it out, having known Shiro the longest, and quickly informed the others of it. They had planned to throw him out of an airlock the next day, seeing as it was eleven pm and Keith was falling asleep where he was standing- he was leaning against Lance for support, legs trembling as they hardly held his weight. He hadn't meant to lean on Lance, of course, but Lance was the closest one to him, and his knees had given out halfway through the meeting, so Lance had caught him from breaking his nose and became a support pillar. They started dating after that, which meant both of their faces were tomatoes at the end of that small meeting.

When it had finished, Lance had literally dragged Keith to bed- his feet had stopped working halfway through their walk.

Lance had put him on the bed, and left without another word, not trusting the words that may have come out of his mouth.

Lance went to his own bed, but he couldn't sleep. Not with everything going on.

He had laid in his bed for at least an hour, staring at his ceiling and counting sheep. So far, he was at one thousand, eight hundred and nine.

With a huff, he had pushed himself out of bed. He walked to Blue's hangar- the place he normally went when he couldn't sleep, even if he piloted Red now. Every so often, he would visit Red, but she didn't offer the same type of comfort Blue did. That day, they had all landed their Lions in the main hangar- all too tired to fly more. 

He froze in his tracks when he heard a grunt, along with the sound of sizzling-

He burst into the room to find Keith on his back, fake-Shiro's hand sticking out of his stomach.

"Okay," Keith mumbled sleepily, startling Lance from his memories.

It took five minutes of humming and soothing back rubs for Keith to fall asleep- whether he meant to or not, Lance wasn't sure.

It took five seconds of Keith sleeping for the door to open with a bang, revealing the orange alien- Latrino, who was holding... something. He couldn't tell. It look like a cat o' nines tail, but instead of rope, it was made out of metal, with little spheres that had spikes sticking out at the end. 

Keith looked up with an incoherent, sleepy grumble, eyes not focused. When they did focus, however, he tensed in Lance's grip, fingers digging into his back. 

"Well, half-breed," it spat, twirling the whip in its claws. Keith whimpered quietly, flinching away when Latrino came closer. "I was going to deliver you to the Galra, but as it turns out, I am not able to hail them at the moment."

Lance did anything _but_ sigh in relief. That meant they were stuck here.

"So. How would you like to prove your loyalty to your lover, half breed?"

Keith let out a sharp breath against Lance's neck. "N-no- Don't touch him- don't fucking touch him!"

It smiled with all of it's fangs- Lance vaguely noticed that Keith had a bite mark on his shoulder- bringing the whip into the air. Lance had his back to Latrino, but his head was turned- he knew what Latrino was going to do, and as long as it was him and not Keith, he would be fine. It would be fine. Keith gasped out a weak 'no' before somehow tearing himself out of Lance's strong grip, and covering Lance's back with his front. 

Before Lance could do anything about it, the whip had already come down, scraping along Keith's chest. 

"No!" Lance screamed, getting to his feet. Latrino laughed viscously,  bringing the whip down on Keith's writhing body again and aga-

Lance finally reached Latrino. With a yell of rage, he tackled it to the ground, somehow tearing the whip out of it's claws. Latrino seemed just as surprised as Lance did, but quickly recovered. He slashed at Lance with it's claws- Lance dodged and rolled to his feet, bringing the whip down onto Latrino before he could get to his... feet?

Latrino screamed in pain as the whip dragged across it's fat. A yellow liquid erupted from the cuts.

Lance brought it down again and again and again, relishing in the terrified and pained screams the asshole was receiving-

"L...Lance..?"

Lance froze, remembering that Keith needed help- he dropped the whip, rushing to Keith's side. His eyes were wide and terrified, starting at Latrino, who had passed out at some point.

"Keith, baby, it's okay-"

"P-please..." Keith whispered as he was gathered into Lance's lap. Lance carded his fingers through Keith's hair, uncaring on how grimy it was. "Don... don't do that... again..."

"I won't, I'm sorry," Lance tenderly kissed Keith's forehead. It must've been scary to watch his boyfriend mercilessly whip your captor, even if they had kidnapped him.

"Good," Keith sighed. 

Their moment of piece was quickly interrupted when two guards burst in- one green, one red- and grabbed Latrino, dragging his body out of the room. The green one stayed behind growling profanities at them as he activated cuffs in it's hand. 

"Which one of you did this?" it hissed.

"I-"

"I did," Keith gasped out, squirming away from Lance with little to no energy. 

"Keith- what- no- he didn't! I did!"

"I don't care," it hissed, again, tentacle wrapping around Keith's forearm to drag him to his knees and at it's weird feet. The cuffs flew to Lance and wrapped themselves around Lance's wrists, no matter how many times he tried to get away from them, and locked him onto the wall. "You,"It stomped on his arm before Keith could react, crushing the bone. "Do," Ankle. "Not," Hand. "Fight," This time, it flipped Keith over and stepped onto his chest. Keith gasped in pain, weakly struggling beneath it. Lance's heart squeezed in his chest as he screamed at it to stop. "Back," It got off of Keith and grabbed his neck, only to slam his head back onto the ground. 

"Keith- He's going to die, jackass!" Lance screamed, again, nearly breaking his wrist as he pulled at the restraints. "Do you see any of that? Blood Loss! Head Injur-" The green alien backhanded him, sending his head whipping to the left as blood trailed down his chin from the corner of his mouth.

"I will get him a doctor," it snarled, uncuffing Lance. "But if he fights back again, he. Will. Die.

"Brutally," it added, walking to the door.

Lance scowled at the alien until it left the room, leaving a dazed Keith to groan on the floor as blood pooled around him.

"Keith-" Lance yelled, still trying to pull away from the cuffs. "Kei-"

"Lan... Lance?"

"Keith, thank God, are you okay? Can you stay awake for me?" He could tell from here that Keith was struggling to stay awake.

"...'dunno. Can't f'l m'... can't f'l any'hin'," he said tiredly.

"Just... keep your eyes open, okay? Someone will be here to help you soon, okay?"

"'kay."

As if on cue, again, two aliens walked into the room. The first one to enter was the same from the other time (yesterday? Three days ago? Last week?)- it was white and a had a scowl for it's face. It was holding a box like last time. The other one was a mix of blue and red. It was very fat, but it was obvious it was muscles, and didn't leave a trail of slime wherever it went. That wouldn't be good. 

"Sorvæl pølkå. Jônsį, kīlmãńė," It had spoken to the red and blue one in it's native tongue, giving Lance no idea what it said. 

"Vœrłø."

The white one knelt- well, all of it's fat was closer to the ground now, beside Keith, opening the box. The other one sat by Keith's head, holding him down by the shoulders.

Keith whimpered in pain, eyes fluttering open. He panicked instantly, trying to pull away from the alien's grip, but he couldn't- the thing was too strong and he was too hurt-

"Tell him to stop moving," The white one said casually, eyes barely glancing at Lance before he went back to his work. "Soothe him."

"I could do it better if you uncuffed me," Lance snarled, pulling at his restraints for emphasis.

The white one seemed to roll it's eyes. "Fhÿûœ."

The cuffs disappeared, allowing Lance to move his arms. He quickly ran to Keith's side, ignoring the way his own head throbbed, sliding to his knees and taking Keith's hand.

"Hey, hey," Lance said softly, rubbing circles into Keith's hand. He didn't relax. "It's okay, look at me, it's okay, you're going to be fi-"

The red and blue alien (Purple, Lance was now going to call him) had moved one tentacle to hold Keith's head down, while the other remained on Keith's shoulder. The white alien had finished on his lower half- it was currently working on Keith's chest.

"Let go of him," Lance hissed at Purple. Keith squeezed his eyes shut, tightening his grip on Lance's hand, biting his lip as the white alien put pressure on one of the worse cuts. Purple ignored him, staring at the white alien. Suppressing a growl, Lance let go of Keith, ready to lunge at Purple if necessary-

The white alien huffed. "Põlahjį."

Purple nodded and released it's grip. He stood up and walked to the door, standin in front of it with his claws clasped in front of it. 

Throwing a glare over his shoulder, Lance moved so Keith's head was pillowed in his lap. He took Keith's hand in both of his own, rubbing small circles into any spot he could reach. Keith opened his eyes, lower lip trembling and bleeding as he looked up at Lance with tears in his eyes. He relaxed almost immediately, burying his face in Lance's thigh. Lance ignored the slowly growing wet spot on his bloody jeans.

Keith was trembling beneath the aliens hands (Lance named him Scowley), who didn't seem to give a shit on what Keith did as long as he didn't interfere with it's work.

At this point, Lance was a broken record. He kept repeating "It's okay, you're going to be fine, it'll be better soon, I love you, don't sleep, they're making it better," over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over-

Scowley moved to Keith's head. "I need you to move if you want him to be jølį healed."

"What was that?"

"I said, I need you to move if you want him mostly healed."

Huffing with a scowl, Lance nodded, then gently lowered Keith's head onto the ground. He didn't let go of Keith's hand, which seemed to satisfy Keith.

At least, until Scowley grabbed his head. Keith's breath hitched; his eyes fluttering open. Again. "L-Lance- wait- p-please- I- Lance-"

Even if Keith hated it, he's glad he nearly killed Latrino. Don't get him wrong, he won't do it again- mainly because Keith asked him not to, but wow, is he glad. They made the mighty Keith Kogane _beg._

"Hey, it's okay- I'm right here. He just needs to fix your head-"

"N-no! Don't- Don't touch me-!"

"Done," Scowley announced, letting go of Keith's head, who smacked it against the floor in an attempt to get free. "I need to work on your back. Can you lay on your stomach for me?"

Lance blinked. Was it being nice?

"If you cannot, it's no problem," he added in a hushed voice, as if someone would hear him.

"No- no, it... it's fine," Keith answered, noticing the same thing. He slowly rolled onto his stomach with a barely suppressed yell. Lance could tell that his injuries weren't fully healed- just enough so he wouldn't die. 

"This may hurt," Scowley informed him, clawed tentacles (covered with a neon blue, creamy substance) settled into Keith's back.

"Ow," Keith mumbled, biting his lip.

After a few more minutes of hissing and grunts and bushes tears, Scowley finally finished, removing his tentacles from Keith's back and wiping them on some type of towel. Lance carded his fingers through Keith's mullet, who leaned into his touch.

"Unfortunately, I cannot heal you more, half-breed," Keith flinched at the name, "as my commander told me to heal you as little as possible. He just wants you alive. I also apologize for any time I, or other Aljerian's, may call you half-breed- we have been ordered to call you that."

Aljerians.

Maybe Allura knew what race that was.

It's not like it would matter anyways- they'd have no way of tracking Keith and Lance-

Unless... unless the mall had cameras. 

"Before I go, I am going to tell you a few things. My claws and tentacles will be on you so it looks like I'm healing you," Scowley informed them, putting his tentacles over Keith's neck. Keith flinched away, burying his face in Lance's thigh with his fists raised in a weak defensive position. Scowled sighed. "The guard I brought with me- he does not speak your language, but he is here to help. The Alj who watches your cell does not speak english. They know the words 'help', 'doctor', 'die' and 'heal'," it said them in a hushed tone, "to make sure you do not die- they knew the Blue Paladin would yell for help. The only one of them who speaks complete english and will help you is the Alj on the night shift- which is why he will not alert anyone when the door explodes.

"Now, please, stay in the far corner of the room until tonight, and do not act up again. They will take you away if you do, and we will lose all chances of escape."

With that, Scowley got up, nodded to the bulky one, and left the room, locking the door behind them.

"That was..." Lance trailed off, unsure of the word he was looking for. He gently took Keith's wrist and pulled them away from his chest.

"Weird," Keith mumbled, finishing Lance's sentence. 

Lance smiled, gently pulling Keith as he scooted backwards to lean against the wall.

Keith hummed contentedly, nuzzling his face into Lance's neck. Lance chuckled, a soft, rumbling sound erupting from his chest, and rubbed Keith's shoulders as Keith smiled and curled into a tighter ball on Lance's lap. 

Lance sighed. Finally. Keith was relaxing-

The door exploded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so, um. yeah. sorry for the wait, i guess?   
> AND OML HAVE YOU SEEN THE S4 TRAILER??  
> HC THAT KEITH GETS HURT AND TURNS GALRA (he isn't in the first scene)  
> OR HE GETS CAPTURED-  
> EIHER WAY, LANCE RETURNS THE BONDING MOMENT  
> anyways  
> hurt keith is a drug and i'm high on it  
> hope you enjoyed, feedback is appreciated!   
> oh- do you guys want more of lance/keith pov or shiro's pov next chapter?


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> angST...  
> snippets of waht team VOLTRON has been doing, mainly shiro and pidge cause theyre easy to writ

"Play it again," Shiro muttered darkly, arms crossed over his chest.

"Shiro-"

"Pidge, please," Shiro sighed, shoulders slumping. "I can't sit there and do nothing. I can at least try and figure out what species they are," Shiro said, holographic data hovering beside him.

Pidge sighed. "Fine. One more."

Shiro smiled slightly.

* * *

"Play-"

"No!" Pidge shouted, slamming the laptop shut. She shot to her feet, fuming. "Shiro, no. You're driving yourself crazy."

Shiro stared back, completely shocked.

"You keep thinking of what you could've done to help them, whatever. Shit like that. We'll find them, but only if you actually do stuff and not just beat yourself up over it and watch the surveillance footage over and over again."

Shiro swallowed harshly, nodding.

"Go to Allura. She might know what species they are."

Shiro nodded, took the offered computer, and left for the bridge.

* * *

"For the love of God," Pidge groaned, smacking her head against the laptop screen. Hunk rubbed her back from behind, watching Coran type in some coordinates. "It's been- what? A month?" Hunk nodded. "We have to find them, and I-I can't-"

"It'll be okay, Pidge," Hunk assured her, rubbing her back. "We'll find them."

"Okay." Even if she didn't believe it, she'd try.

She wouldn't give up.

* * *

She shed her first tear after a month and a week.

* * *

"I've got it!"

Shiro jumped, knocking over his drink. "What?"

"I found them! Planet- planet Aljeri. They're on planet Aljeri, Shiro! That planet is in our databases- oh my G-God-" Shiro scooped her into a hug as she started to sob of relief, tears sliding down his own cheeks.

_Finally_.

* * *

"Tell me where they are!" Shiro yelled, very un-Shiro like. He was holding up the orange alien by it's... throat, Galran hand on and against it's already damaged chest.

"Cell Block B," it mumbled, yellow liquid dripping from it's mouth. The other alien that was with him had been easy to take down, especially with Shiro's rage and Hunk's canon. 

Shiro snarled, dropping the alien. He started running, Pidge and Hunk close behind. "Pid-"

"Turn left!"

Shiro stumbled into a white alien, helping someone stand. The person had waist long, silver hair, and yellow irises-

"Lotor," he growled, arm activated. He could feel Pidge tense behind him, hear Hunk start up his canon-

"Your friends are that way," he muttered, pointing behind him, eyes meeting Shiro's. He nodded to the white alien, who proceeded to move past them.

Without much shock, Shiro ran. Lotor could be dealt with later.

The cell Lotor pointed to was unguarded, and the door- oh God, the door-

"Fuck!" Pidge exclaimed, tears dripping down her face.

They were too late.

The cell was empty.

The only sign that they were ever there was Keith's ripped up shirt.

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> gniengi  
> sorry its so short next chapter sould be soon??  
> ALSO REALLY SORRY FOR THE WAIT GOT DISTRACTED


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HOLY FUCKJNG SHT IM SO SORRY ONG DJDNDJ  
> OKAY  
> SO  
> IF YOU CARE ABOUT WHY IT TOOK SO LONG ITS DOWN BELOW IF NOT, SKIP IT AND ENJOY
> 
>  
> 
> I HAD CHAPTER FIVE ALMOST FINISHED, LIKE. TWO PARAGRAPHS AWAY, MAYBE?? AND IT WAS REALLY DETAILED AND SHIT AND GOod . i use archive drafts to write my stuff (before,, i downloaded google docs,,,) AND?? it deleted chapter five???  
> and by that point it was already like. november 20th. and it took me here days to like. get out of my weird ass slump bECAUSE I LOST ALL OF IT???  
> and then i started focusing on a dance with the prince, theN chrisfmas, then florida for new years  
> and i posted some other things bc i forgot about this for a little while. and then i remembered about it on the drive back so i was like?? hey?? i’ll write this on the drive back from florida?? and opened chapter five.
> 
> i never got to working on it  
> then i posted some more things like fluff and whatever  
> and i planned on making this one  
> but  
> then  
> BOoM  
> WRITERS BLOCK
> 
> anyways!!  
> here’s it is  
> if it sucks it’s bc i’m forcing it out of my writers blocked brainbdbdbdn

Cold.

He felt cold.

It was so unlike the other days (months? weeks? years?) where Lance had held him close, providing him soothing words and a warm body to lean against.

He was confused.

Why was the heat gone?

“-ño, it’s gonna be okay, it’s all gonna be okay,” The heat was on his forehead, brushing back his hair. “Can you open your eyes for me?”

He tried.

He really, really tried.

He wanted to do anything for the heat that kept him safe, but the clutches of darkness were dragging him under, no matter how hard he tried to stay awake.

”That’s okay, _cariño_ , you don’t have to. You can sleep,” The heat on his forehead left, replaced by a pair of lips for a split second before it came back, rubbing small circles. He sighed contentedly, leaning into the touch, the heat. “You’re okay. We’re okay.”

He let darkness envelop his world.

* * *

 

Warmth.

He was surrounded by warmth.

The heat shifted beneath him, seemingly pulling him further into the abyss of warmth and safety as Keith burrowed deeper.

The darkness came back.

* * *

 

Cold.

It was cold again.

Where’d the heat go?

Did the squid alien things manage to take that, too?

Wasn’t his pride, _his dignity_ , enough?

”Hey, hey, calm down, Paladin,” Someone brushes his hair back, but it’s not the heat, it’s not the heat- wait. No, no, what is the heat? Who is the heat? Who warms him and keeps him safe and away from the prying tentacles- “It is alright. You are safe. You are-“

Hushed whispering.

The hand leaves his hair.

A new one, a human one, replaces it.

”Hey,” He can see it, now, a warm smile that would light up his day. “I’m here, you’re okay, we’re okay. Keith, we’re safe now, remember? It’s okay,” The tan arms that would pull him into the safety of an embrace when the tentacles would try to get them.

”L...Lance,” His mouth feels weird; tongue made out of lead, mouth like cotton. Brows furrowed, he tries to force his eyes open, to see Lance again, just one more time, before they inevitably took Lance away again. “Lance?”

“Yes!” He winced at the loud volume, a headache beginning to form. “Yes, yes, sorry, baby, yes, it’s me, it’s Lance,” The heat- Lance, Lance, cupped his cheeks, thumb stroking just under his eyelid, rubbing away something wet- Was he crying? When did he start crying?

He managed to pry his eyes into slits, gaining a vision, blurry, but a vision none the less. They were in a purple room, dimly lit, different from the dark cell they used to be in. He was laying on something soft, something even softer covering his sore legs. Sore. Sore, not broken. Not broken.

He struggled to get his eyes open more than halfway, trying to force himself into a sitting position.

Lance’s face appeared into his line of sight as he grunted, smiling warmly and blue eyes watering. “Hey, hey, don’t strain yourself, _cariño_.”

”B-but-“ It took too much effort to have his eyes open, try to sit up and talk. He fell back down with a quiet thump, eyes only half open, threatening to slide shut completely. “Okay.”

”Good,” Lance placed his warm (so, so warm) hand over Keith’s, sighing fondly. At least, that’s what Keith hoped. “How are you feeling? Does anything hurt?”

“Tired,” he murmured, curling his cold (so, so cold) fingers over Lance’s warm ones. Why was Lance so warm? Why was he cold? “Legs’r sore. Head hurts a li’l’ bit,” It’s starting to border on agonizing, though Lance doesn’t need to know that.

”Is that it?” Lance asks softly, pushing his hair back from Keith’s forehead. He leans into the touch, sighing.

“Yeah,” he breathes out.

There’s a beat of comfortable silence as Lance continues to push Keith’s hair back, soothing him into a sleep like state.

”Where’r’ we?” Keith asks, tongue weighed down with exhaustion.

”I’m not sure,” Lance says, frowning. “The person who comes in here- Ezor, I thinks she said her name was,” The hand in his hair stills. “Hasn’t said. She makes some type of small talk with me and gives you some antibiotics, covers you in a gel version of the cryopod. She leaves food and water, too.”

”Soun’s nice,” He yawns, letting his eyes flutter shut. “Am I allowed to sleep? Or does she... does she need me awake for tests, or somethin’?”

”Nah, you can be asleep while she applies your gel. She did it a few minutes ago, before you started saying you were cold,” Lance smiles, then, taking his hand away from Keith’s hair. Keith almost whines, almost, he still has a shred of dignity, at the loss of warmth, but it’s soon replaced by a warmth pressed all along his side and sliding around his shoulders.

“Lance?”

”Go to sleep, _cariño_ ,” he says, pulling him closer until his head is resting on Lance’s chest, his arm draped across Lance’s stomach. “I’ll keep you safe this time.”

”Okay,” he hardly manages to whisper before he’s falling asleep again.

* * *

 

When he wakes up, Lance is still there, holding him close.

Keith hums quietly, burying his nose into whatever fabric is covering Lance’s chest and smiling softly, digging his fingers into the fabric.

“-nt to wait to do it, I think he’s waking up,” Lance says to someone, Ezor, maybe, as Keith tangles his legs with Lance’s.

“Lance,” He mumbles, smiling even more when the arm around his shoulders tightens briefly, pulling him closer. He tries to move even closer, but a sharp sting in the bottom of his shin, paralyzed him, causing him to gasp. “Ow, fuck, _ow_ -“

”What? What is it?” Lance asks as Keith opens his eyes, kicking off whatever soft blanket is on their legs so he can make sure his leg didn’t spontaneously break- “Is that blood? Wait- Ezor? Ezor, what-“

Keith pales when an orange hand, the same colour as the leader, no, no, no, no-

“I think the wound is reopening,” Ezor, Ezor, not the leader, says, lightly probing the area around the cut. She’s got a ponytail like appendage on the top of her head, swirling in colours of blue, yellow, green, and her skin colour, orange. She seems like the type of person who would smile and laugh a lot, despite their own pain, and he gets that thought just by looking at her. “Keith?” She looks at him, yellow and blue eyes wide but not too concerned. She smiles softly, relaxing Keith’s fried nerves the slightest bit. Lance tightens the arm he has around his shoulders. “I need to apply a gel on your cut. It will sting, maybe hurt, but it needs to be done so the cut will heal and not reopen more. Is that okay?”

He nods, a lump forming in his throat.

She nods too, opening up a little jar of bright blue gel, scooping two of her fingers in and pulling out a small wad. Just as her fingers hover over his skin, he yells.

”Wait!” She stops, looking at him curiously. He feels tears forming in his eyes. He can’t have another stranger touch him, he- he can’t, not after, not after- “Wait- wait, I’m sorry.”

”What is it?” She asks kindly, softly, moving her fingers away from his leg. Keith swallows harshly, chancing a glance at Lance as he feels himself pulled closer, deeer, into Lance’s side. Lance is frowning. Why is he frowning?

”Uh, I-I can- can Lance do it? Can he... can he...” he bites his lip as he feels his eyes water, slams his eyes shut. It’s pathetic, pathetic how he can’t let someone help heal him without panicking, how he can’t stop himself from wanting to cry. “Do it?” he manages to whisper.

”Definitely!”

He sighs in relief as he hears Ezor move away, hear the jar handed to Lance.

”How do you wanna do this, Keith?” Lance asks, voice quiet and soft and safe. “Do you want me to get up, or do you want me to put your legs in my lap, or-“

”Lap,” he gets out, burying his face into Lance’s shoulder.

He feels Lance nod against him.

It takes some complicated maneuvering and a lot of time, but eventually, Lance has managed to get his feet in Lance’s lap, all while keeping Keith’s head comfortably on his shoulder.

Ezor seems to have left for the time being, which helps Keith relax even more. It’s not that she set him on edge, or anything relatively close, but she was still a stranger who had (that they knew of, of course) no reason to be helping them get better. If she did, he doubted it would be because of good intentions. He didn’t trust her, definitely not, but he also didn’t... _not_ trust her.

Like Ezor said, when the gel touches his cut, it does sting, but it’s not agony, not like when they stepped on his shredded back-

He shudders with a wince, pressing himself closer to Lance.

Lance, in turn, pulls him closer, seemingly sending his distress.

”There you go,” Lance speaks up after a minute of silence, weaving his fingers through Keith’s hair. Keith melts into the touch, sighing contentedly. “All done.”

“Thank you,” he whispers, tucking his knees close to his chest and leaning into Lance. He feels relaxed, for some reason, and has a strange urge to start crying. He places his palm on his ankle, where the blood (or the cut? He’s not sure) was, feeling nothing but smoothness and a bit of jagged skin. It stings as he touches it, but not enough to make him stop due to the pain. He pulls at it a little, hearing the small, quiet squelch like noise it makes as he pulls it away from the muscle- His stomach turns as he gags, quickly dragging his hand away from his leg.

”What? What is it?” Lance asks, voice filled with concern and worry that makes Keith feel bad for making himself nauseous. “Are you hurting? Does your head hurt?” Lance moves back, far enough to see Keith’s face, but not enough that Keith is on the bed, not touching him, placing a warm hand on his cheek and turning his head to the side. “There’s no cut...” he murmurs, seemingly to himself, as Lance tips his head down, and-

_I’ll make you feel good, halfling._

Keith’s breath stutters in his chest, hands floundering wildly in search of Lance’s grasp, if he’s even really there-

_Hot breath on his shoulder; panting._

_Delicious._

His eyes widen slightly, stinging with the sensation of oncoming tears. He squeezes them shut; he will not cry, he will _not_ cry, _he will not cry_ -

_A pained grunt._

He feels tears fall free, flinching when a hand rests against his shoulder.

”Keith?”

_Did you just bite me, galra whore?_

”Keith, hey, it’s okay, we’re safe, you’re safe-“

_Get me the whip._

”Breathe, Keith, I need you to breathe, c’mon-“

He tries to breathe.

”Just like that, yeah, copy me, okay? In for 1, 2, 3...”

_Pain._

”No, no, keep breathing, keep breathing, you’re safe here, _cariño_ , we aren’t with them anymore, you’re safe, I’ll protect you-“

_It needs to learn some manners._

He recoils violently, as much as he can with his arms restrained, when warm hands travel up and down his sides, as if they were rubbing them to calm him down, which those damn aliens wouldn’t do; They wanted him to be scared-

“You don’t have to be scared anymore,” Those hands pull him into an even warmer body, pressing him against it. The hands cradle the back of his head and wrap around his lower back, rocking him gently, slowly. “I’m here. I’ll protect you, no matter what, _cariño_.”

A shiver wracks his frame as he feels the ghost of claw like fingers dragging down his spine, in one of the cuts.

He ignores it; breathes.

”That’s it, there you go...”

Awareness is like a slap in the face; It hits him hard and leaves him reeling in the aftermath.

He gasps, feeling tears slide down already soaked cheeks. The next breath he takes is a choked off sob, head throbbing in time with his erratic heartbeat.

”Keith?” Lance asks, voice soft and gentle, beautiful, not clawed fingers rubbing small circles into his lower back. “What’s wrong?”

He sobs in response, unable to contain it, and presses closer, twisting his fists into the fabric being used as Lance’s shirt.

Lance pulls him closer in response, laying them down. The hold Lance has on Keith tightens, and instead of small circles, he’s rubbing the full length of Keith’s back, even though Keith can hardly register it. 

“Shh,” Lance’s voice is soothing, calming him, if only the slightest bit. He takes a shuddering breath, willing himself to stop crying, because this is pathetic and humiliating and he’s so fucking stupid- “It’s okay. You’re okay.”

He nods shakily, even if he doesn’t believe it.

”Do you wanna tell me what’s wrong?” Lance asks, carding his fingers through Keith’s hair.

He hesitates.

He doesn’t, not at all. He doesn’t want to tell anyone about it, about how he was held down while they experimented on him and explored his body, about how helpless he was-

“You don’t have too, cariño.”

He knows he can’t bear all of the trauma alone, even if he wants to. It will weigh him down again and again until he eventually crumbles, with no pieces to pick back up. Maybe if he told someone, though, that wouldn’t happen.

”Keith?”

He doesn’t know what to do.

”Keith, are you okay?”

“No,” he whispers, unable to contain the shudder that courses through his body as he decides what would be best, even if he hates his choice. “I... I’m not,” _I don’t know if I ever will be again._

Lance rubs his back one more time. “Do you want to look at me and tell me what’s wrong, or would you prefer staying like this?”

”Like this,” _because I don’t want to see the pity, the disappointment in your eyes when I tell you._

Lance presses a kiss to the top of his head. More tears gather in his eyes, though he refuses to let them fall.

“They... the aliens...” He heaved a deep breath, trying and failing to calm his nerves. He braces himself for rejection, knowing Lance won’t want him now that he’s a used toy, not what Lance signed up for when they started dating. “They fucked me,” he whispers against the tan skin he’s come to love. “They r-“ He can’t seem to force the word ‘rape’ out, feels it stuck in his throat. “They fucked me,” he treats, cheeks red with shame and humiliation as memories, horrible, horrible memories, resurface.

The hand in his hair stills.

”They-?”

The door opens, interrupting Lance.

”Paladins?” Keith looks up, vision blurry with tears, sniffling. Her smile falters when she sees their position, his red rimmed eyes and wet cheeks. “Oh, I’m so sorry... see you two.”

Keith nods, only registering the last bits of her sentence, cheeks flaming.

”Can we have a few minutes?” Lance asks, politely, but his tone is dangerous, filled with fury directed at _him_ , without a doubt.

Keith swallows down a sob, burying his face back in Lance’s shoulder, even though he knows Lance is going to push him away anyways.

Ezor must’ve agreed, because the door closes and they’re still on a bed.

”Keith,” He tenses, squeezing his eyes shut. _I’m sorry._ “Hey, look at me.”

He does, if reluctantly, slowly removing his head from Lance’s shoulder, and peeling his eyes open even slower.

Instead of the disgusted and angered sneer he was expecting, there was a warm smile on his face, as if he knew all along.

”We’re gonna kill them, you know that, right?”

Keith closes his eyes, exhaling softly.

”I’ll keep you safe, no matter what, okay? It won’t happen again, ever. I promise.”

And, well, if anyone knew, it was Keith, that promises were made to be broken.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> short? yes i’m sorry  
> i tried to not end it on a cliffhanger for y’all because of the wait :((((((((((  
> the next one will be longer, i promise!   
> also!! this chapter was more of a filler, mostly everything gets explained next chapter (aka why lotor was in the cell, who freed them, why they were free, where they are, etc)  
> another also!!! the chapter count should be 6-10, maybe??????? idk, around there. probably.  
> another thing!! the paladins know about lotor. they don’t know about his generals.  
> if there’s any inconsistencies i’m so sorry!! i wrote this in a span of three days ma’am.
> 
> feedback is greatly appreciated!!! (so r .. kudos,,,, but u don’t,,,,,,,,, have toooo.,,,,,)
> 
>  
> 
> another final thing: my friend and i (Eli_InTheBathroom) made a discord server for our fics?? join it?? we love meeting new people???????? 
> 
> https://discord.gg/zuznzKW
> 
> bye!!! next chapter should be up sooooon!!!!


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